Locking mechanism for doors



May 13, 193Q- Y A. s. BARRows 1,758,070

/f @MQW .May 13, 1930. A S BARRQWS 1,758,070

LOCKING MEGHANISM FOR DOORS Filed March 25, 1923 2 Sheets-Slieet 2Patented May 13, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALLAN S. BARR/OWS, OFLOS GELES, CALIFORNIA., ASSIGNOB, TO THE YOUNGSTOWN STEEL DOOR COMPANY,OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, CORPORATION OF OHIO LOCKING MECHANISM FOR DOORSApplication med March 23, 1923. serial No. 627,005.

This invention relates to improvements in locking mechanisms for slidingdoors.

One object of the invention is to provide novel and efficient means,particularly adaptable to sheet metal car vdoors of the double outsidesliding type, for locking a secondary or auxiliary door in so-calledclosed position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a locking means of thecharacter indi- 11o cated, which is automatically controlled to lock thedoor when the same is moved to closed position.

Another and more specific object of the invention is to provide a doorlocking means 15 for sliding doors, including a latch which is gravityactuated, wherein the locking action of the latch is controlledby themovement of the sliding door.

Other objects and advantages will more clearly appear from thedescription and claims hereinafter following.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Fig. 1 is aninterior, side elevational view of a portion of a car, showing myimprovements in connection therewith, parts being broken away in orderto better accommodate the figure on the sheet. Fig. 2 is a horizontalsectional view, corresponding substantially to the line 2f-2 of Fig. 1.Fig.

3 is a vertical sectional view corresponding substantially to the line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view correspondingsubstantially to the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. And Figs. 5, 6 and 7 aredetail, perspective views of the latch, latch retaining member,

and stop block, respectively.

In said drawings, 10 indicates the usual side wall of a box car and 11one of the door posts or jams, the one at `the rear of the auxiliarydoor, it being understood that there will be a similar post at theopposite side of the door opening.

In the arrangement shown, two sliding outside doors are employed, one ofwhich may be termed the main door and indicated by A, and the other asomewhat narrower door which may be termed a secondary or auxiliarydoor, which is indicated by B.

The doors A and B are preferably Vof the tophung type, `and of aconstruction yand arrangement the same as that illustrated in myco-pending application, Serial No. 611,243, filed January 8, 1923.

rIhe main door A is composed of sheet metal throughout, the samepreferably being formed with vertical and horizontal corrugations andmultiple ply edges as described in my prior Patent No. 1,315,537. Thesecondary door B is also formed preferably of sheet metal, the samebeing preferably made with a plurality of sheet metal panels unitedalong the meeting edges and forming the main sheet of the door asclearly disclosed in my co-pending application referred to. The mainsheet of the door is corrugated so as to provide a rear, verticalcorrugation 12, a vertical corrugation 13 at the front edge of the doorand a series of horizontally extending corrugations 14, merging at theirends with the vertical corrugatons 12 and 13. At the bottom of the doorB, a plate 14a is riveted or otherwise secured to the main sheet, saidplate ,spanning the lowermost horizontal corrugations and providing adouble-ply lower edge. At the rear edge of the door, a strip 15 issecured to the inner side of the main sheet, bridging the verticalcorrugation 12 and riveted to the main sheet on opposite sides of saidcorrugation 12, said strip being preferably extended at its rear edgeand bent to hook shape as indicated at 16, so as to engage over theprojecting edge 17 of a wear plate 18 applied to the exposed face of thepost 27.

At the front edge of the door B, the corrugationv 13 is provided with anextended flange 19, and a strip 2O secured on the inner side of the mainsheet, the flange 19 and the strip being tied together by an angle bar21. The angle bar 21 has an outer, relatively narrow, fla-nge 22parallel to the side wall of the car and to which is riveted, orotherwise rigidly secured, the extension 19. The angle bar 21 has anelongated leg 23 extended transversely of the car and to which one edgeof the strip 20 is riveted or otherwise rigidly secured, as indicated at24. The lower horizontal strip 14a is extended, as indicated at 25 inFig. 2, and thence bent at right angles, as indicated at 26 and rivetedto the angle 100 bar 21. The elongated leg 23 of the angle bar 21provides a suitable supportfor a heavy wood beam 27, which may be boltedto the angle bar.

To lock the door B in closed position, a gravity controlled latchingmechanism is provided. rlhe latch mechanism comprises broadly, a pivotedlatch C; a retaining member D; and a latch block E.

The latch C, as best shown in Figs. 4 and 5, is in the form of a fiatplate, having upwardly diverging side edges 28 and 29, and a convex topedge of a curvature of relatively great radius, and a convex bottom edge31 of a curvature of relatively short radius. The side edge 23 is ofgreater length than the side edge 29, thereby providing a toe portion 32adapted to co-act with the latch block E. Upon reference to Fig. 3, itwill be noted that the toe portion 32 is adapted to engage in one of thehorizontal corrugations 14 and is of a general outline corresponding tosaid corru- `gations. The latch C is recessed as indicated at 33 for apurpose hereinafter described, the recess 33 being provided with a pairof diverging side walls 34 and At its lower end. the latch C is providedwith a pivot receiving opening 36 concentric with the conrex lower face31 of the latch. To provide means for withdrawing the latch C from itslocking position, the top edge 30 may be notched as indicated at 3G.

rlhe retaining member D is in the form of a fiat bar. Projecting atright angles from the inner face of the bar, at the opposite endsthereof, are a pair of cylindrical bosses 37 and 33, the boss 38 beingadapted to engage within the opening 3G, serving as a pivot for thelatch C. The bosses 37 and 38 are provided with bores 39 and 40,respectively, the bore of each boss being concentric with the outercylindrical face thereof. rlhe openings 3) and 40 are adapted to receivebolts 41 and respectively by which the retaining member is rigidlysecured to the post 11.

As clearly shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the latch C is swinginglymounted on the post 11 by having its lower end pivoted on the retainingmember D by means of the boss 38 engaging in the opening 3G, the boss 37eX- tending into the recess 35, and the body portion of the retainingmember spanning the space between the recess 33 and the opening 3G.holding the latch in position against lateral movement away from thepost, and forming a guide for the same. As clearly shown in Fig. 3, theboss 37 is adapted to coact with the walls 34 and 35 of the recess 33 tolimit the swinging movement of the latch C, both in an upward anddownward direction. ln the lowermost position of the latch C, as shownin full lines in Fig. 3, the wall 35 is in abutment with the boss 37,holding the toe of the latch in registration with the alined corrugation14. Upon the latch being raised,

the wall 34 will limit the upward movement of the same by engagementwith the boss 37, the limit of the upward movement of the latch beingindicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 3. its will be evident, the boss37 is fixed, being so positioned with reference to the pivot point ofthe latch that it will arrest the upward movement of the latch with thecenter ot gravity .of the latter located to the left of the pivot asseen in Fig. 3, thereby assuring the automatic return of the latch toits lowermost position.

The wedge locking block E is of triangular shape in cross sect-ion, andis adapted to snug ly lit within the horizontal, latch receivingcorrugation 14, and provided with converging top and bottom faces 41 and42, adapted to abut the walls of the corrugation, a flat rear face 43adapted to form an abutment co-acting with the latch C, a front cam face44, and a flat inner side face 45. The block E is arranged near the rearend of the door B and is held in fixed position within the corrugation14 in any suitable manner, preferably, by flat headed flush rivets 46,received in countersunlr openings in the block E. As will be evidentupon reference to Fig. 2, the block E is spaced the proper distance fromthe rear end of the door to permit the latch C to drop behind the same,when the door is closed, and engage with the abutment face 43 to holdthe door locked in closed position.

The operation of the automatic locking mechanism is as follows, assumingthat the door is being moved from open to closed position. At thebeginning of the sliding movement of the door B, the latch will besupported in its lowermost position by engagement of the wall 35 thereofwith the abutment 37, with the toe 32 of the latch C eX- tending intothe latch receiving corrugation 14, the latch being preferably supportedentirely by the abutment 37 so that the toe will have the edges thereofslightly spaced from the walls of the corrugation 14 to prevent wear, asclearly indicated in Fig. 3. During the sliding movement of the door Bin bringing the same to closed position, the latch will ride in thealined corrugation 14 until the cam face 44 of the block E engages withthe toe 32 of the latch, whereupon the latch will ride upwardly on thecam face and over the i'iat face inally reaching the end of the block,when it will drop behind the abutment face 43 of the block due to theinfluence of gravity, thus automatically locking the door B in closedposition.

To unlock the latching mechanism, the toe 32 of the latch C is movedclear of t-he block E by raising the latch C to the dotted line positionshown in Fig. 3, whereupon the door B is free to be moved to openposition. In the operation of opening the door, when the block E haspassed beyond the latch C, the latter, due to the influence of gravity,again mss-,07o

drops into position in front of the block, with the toe 32 extendinginto the corrugation 14.

By referring to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the spark seal flange 16prevents tampering with the gravity latch C when the latter is in lockedposition, that is, a thin tool or other instrument cannot be insertedbetween the door B and the door post to lift or disengage the latch. Inthis manner, I prevent unauthorized opening of the door B unless themain door A is first opened, which could not be ldone in railroadpractice without leaving visual evidence thereof, in view of the commonuse of lead seals, as is well understood by those skilled in the art.

From the preceding description taken in connection with the drawings, itwill be evident that a door locking mechanism is provided which isentirely automatic in its locking operation, that the locking movementof the latch is controlled entirely by the movement of the sliding door,and that this result is accomplished without the use of complicatedconnecting mechanism.

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferredmanner of carrying out the invention, but the same is merelyillustrative and I contemplate ail changes and modifications that comewithin the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

l. In a door latching mechanism, the combination with a one pieceswinging latch member having a pivot opening at one end thereof; of aone piece retaining member for said latch member and adapted to overliethe outer surface of the same, said retaining member being provided withan integral pivot element extending through said pivot opening and anintegral abutment element adapted to limit the swinging movement of saidlatch member in opposite directions.

2. In a house car having a side door opening defined in part by sidedoor posts and adapted to be closed by main and auxiliary oppositelyslidable doors, means for latching the auxiliary door in its closedposition, said means comprising relatively iixedly and movably mountedcooperating elements, said elements being disposed on the inner side ofthe auxiliary door and the corresponding adjacent side post so as to beinaccessible from the exterior of the car when both doors are closed,the said relatively movably mounted element being arranged to bridgebetween the auxiliary door and post when in operative position andadapted to be retracted to the clearance position, whereby the said dooropening remains free from obstruction by any auxiliary door latchingmeans.

3. In a house car having a side door opening defined in part by sidedoor posts and adapted to be closed by main and auxiliary oppositelyslidable doors, means for latching the auxiliary door its closedposition, said mea-ns comprising relatively'rxedly and mov-- ablymounted cooperating elements, said elements being disposed on the innerside of the auxiliary door and the corresponding adjacent side posts soas to be inaccessible from the exterior of the car when both doors areclosed, the said relatively movably mounted element being arranged tobridge between the auxiliary door and post when in operative positionand adapted to be-retracted to a clearance position, said movablymounted element being gravity actuated and automatically operativclyengageable with said fixed element when the auxiliary door is moved toits closed position, whereby the said door opening remains free fromobstruction by any auxiliary door latching means.

e. In a house car having a side door opening defined in part by sidedoor posts and adapted to be closed by main and auxiliary oppositelyslidable doors, means for latching the auxiliary door in its closedposition, said means comprising a relatively fixed element A disposed onthe inner side of the auxiliary door and a cooperating element movablymounted on the corresponding adjacent side post so as to be inaccessiblefrom the exterior of the car when both doors are closed, said movableelement being movable to a bridging position from the post to said doorto engage the fixed element and adapted to be retracted to a positionclear of the auxiliary door, whereby when so retracted, the auxiliarydoor may be opened without interference and the said door opening isleft free from obstruction.

5. In a house car having a side door opening defined in part by sidedoor posts and adapted to be closed by main and auxiliary oppositelyslidable doors, means for latching the auxiliary door in its closedposition, said means comprising a relatively xed element disposed on theinner side of the auxiliary door and a cooperating element movablymounted on the corresponding adjacent side post so as to be inaccessiblefrom the exterior of the car when both doors are closed, said movableelement being movable to a bridging position from the post to said doorto engage the iixed element and adapted to be retracted to a positionclear of the auxiliary door, said movable element being gravity actuatedand automatically cooperable with said fixed element to drop intooperative latching position as the auxiliary door is moved to its closedposition, whereby when so retracted, the auxiliary door may be openedwithout interference and the said door opening is left free fromobstruction.

6. In a house car having a side door opening defined in part by sideposts and adapted to be closed by main and auxiliary oppositely slidabledoors, the combination with a metal auxiliary door having an outwardlypressed corrugation therein; of a relatively ixed latching elementdisposed in seid corrugation on the inner side of the door near the rearedge thereof; and a cooperalole latching element movably mounted on thecorresponding adjacent side post and adapted to be extended beyond Saidpost into said corrugation to engage said relatively fixed latchingelement to thereby latch the auxiliary door in closed position, wherebythe door opening is left free from obstruction.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed mynzune this 13th day of March, 1923.

ALLAN S. BARROVVS.

